Phantom Ganon
Phantom Ganon is a character from Legend of Zelda: Dark Alliance. He is best described as a former servant to Ganondorf, but was betrayed by his master and he swore revenge. He eventually besieged Hyrule castle and destroyed it. His personality could be described as calm, collected, cruel but restrained, and extremely cunning. In Dark Alliance, you have the option to play as him. Characteristics Phantom Ganon is about as tall as the typical human, but his skin is kind of like Ganondorf's. He shares the forehead jewel, but that is not any real weak spot. Originally, he wore armor nealy identical to ganondorf's, but changed his to a better design, kind of like Roman Armor in the real world. His actual power source is the orange gem on his lance. History Phantom Ganon was originally created to be ganondorf's perfect servant and killing machine, if need be. He had limited intelligence, and could not talk. He could only obey orders and sometimes laugh in a evil tone. He was told to guard the Forest Temple. Confrontaion with the Hero of Time Link was exploring the temple some time later, looking for his friend, Saria. He met up with Phantom Ganon in a chamber full of identical paintings. After losing his horse, he challenged Link to a game of Dead Man's Volley. Link won, and Phantom Ganon was destroyed, sort of. As he was dying, Ganondorf called out, "You have only defeated my Phantom. When you fight the real me, it won't be so easy! What a worthless creation that ghost was! I will banish it to the gap between dimensions!" Then, he actually spoke, taking the words of Ganondorf like a serious insult, and he cried out in agony as he was pulled in, "CURSE YOU GANONDORF! I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU SOMEDAY!" Gap Between Dimensions Phantom Ganon, now nearly insane with rage, he began to evolve, feeding off the dark waves of energy in the gap. He observed Ganondorf suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the hero. By this time, even though time has little meaning in the gap, he had calmed down and began to become far more quiet and contemplating, plotting every move he would make. And he sat like this, half destroyed, drifting through the endless reaches of the gap..... One day, he noticed a blur coming slowly towards him. He began to move, and he soon could make it out to be Shadow Link. Was he banished here too? The two met up and talked about their histories and goals, and the two had several things in common. First and foremost, they wanted to make Ganondorf pay for using them in his own twisted games. Second, both wanted to kill Link for besting them in the past. The two eventually became reasonably close, and became very good friends, in a way. And so, the Dark Alliance was born. Shadow Link told him that a spatial distortion, a remnant of the portal that threw both of them there, opens once every 200 hylian years. With Shadow Link's help, they widened the spatial distortion and escaped the gap between dimentions. Rebirth in a New Land The portal opened up in Faron Woods and Phantom Ganon, now completely destroyed, made a temporary body out of the twilight that shrouded the forest. Shadow Link was waiting for him. He gives Phantom Ganon three swords; a longsword, a short sword, and a combat dagger. As soon as he touched them, the blades became energized with a twilight aura, and they now seethed with an orange glow. The two proceeded through the forest, killing several swarms of twilit keese and twilit vermin. After killing four twilit baba serpents that were blocking a path, they entered a large room and a barrier formed around their entrance and exit. A gigantic coccoon was hanging from a tree branch by a thin thread. As soon as it detected movement, it dropped to the ground and burst open, revealing a hideous giant twilit vermin. It could be considered the first boss. It had a large twilight sword encased in its skull, and it appeared that it would take teamwork to take down this giant pest. Phantom Ganon had to distract it by hacking at its tail while Shadow Link jumps onto its back and stabs it in the FACE. It then began to bleed green, which made the two gag. Phantom Ganon called out to Shadow Link, "that creature's blood is acid! Don't let it touch you!" The ground was already soaked with the acid blood, so they had to watch their steps. The creature managed to shake Shadow Link off, and fling him into a nearby oak tree, where the stunned Shadow lay. Phantom Ganon, still hacking at the tail, managed to cut the entire tail off with a well-aimed blow. The beast shrieked in pain, waking a formerly dazed Shadow Link. Phantom Ganon took the opportunity to attack the beast's face.(again) He stabbed his two swords in each eye, and cleaved the head in one devastating upward strike. He removed the twilight sword, and the beast shriveled into the small body of a rat, already dead. The sword exploded in a misty cloud, leaving behind two things- a small satchel filled with golden coins, and a rupee. Shadow Link took the rupee with an evil grin. >:D Two Fields, a Village, and a Rupee They finally left the forest but a problem occurred. While Phantom Ganon did not need food (yet), Shadow Link was starving, complaining about not bringing any food(try and imagine going two-hundred years without anything to eat). So they set up a makeshift camp at the forest's edge. Shadow Link went to find something edible, while Phantom Ganon cleaned the monster rat blood off his swords. Shadow Link soon came back with a handful of apples, a hat full of berries, and a rupee. Phantom Ganon eyed the rupee as if saying, "Since when is that edible?" They had a small meal of roasted apples and berries, and Shadow Link, in the middle of a ravenous fit of hunger, accidentally bit the rupee. Then they set up a makeshift tent made of scrapwood, and slept for the first time in two centuries. A Field, an Assassin, and a Problem Both Phantom Ganon and Shadow Link left their rather pitiful tent and set out for the field of the south. It was also veiled in twilight, with an indigo sky and light orange clouds. Plant life was not just coping with the unusual conditions, it was evolving. Twilit Bulblins were on their ultimately meaningless patrol, as there was no enemy to really defend against. Still, their shoddy lookout towers and walls were nothing more than an elaborate facade. Shadow Link, with his heightened senses, cleanly finished a Bulbin before it could alert the whole fortification. Twilit Messengers were also on patrol, and they could easily take several arrow shots and still live. Their destination: a pathway leading to the small southeastern field. Little did they actually realize, they had some "friends" waiting for them out of sight. When they finally reached the path leading to the narrow pass, after beating up at least fourty bulbins and several twilit messengers, Shadow Link finds another rupee, which he hides in his hat. They hear a faint rustle in the bushes to their right, and Shadow Link just narrowly misses a poison-tipped blowdart, and several barriers fall into place around them. Shadow Link hopelessly tries to break a barrier pillar, but Phantom Ganon quiets him with a hand signal. Their foe, some kind of elite Twilit Messenger, no, a Twilit Assassin, stood before them; with four regular messengers, ten bulblins, and two Twilit Kargoroks. Shadow Link gave Phantom Ganon a look saying, "No sweat", and withdrew a javelin from his long, thin pack under his shield, and threw it at one of the Kargoroks. Its point went clear through the throat and left it in a heap, covered with oozing black blood. He still had one more, but instead, he aimed it at one of the four messengers, who, not suspecting he would be the next target, only could glance before death was upon him, leaving him writhing in pain as he slowly died. Shadow Link has just about anything up his sleeve, and his next weapon of choice alongside his shield was a long thrusting spear. Phantom Ganon withdrew his short stabbing sword and stood next to Shadow Link. While he kept the Bulblins busy, Phantom Ganon had little time to notice as the Kargorok came in from behind, leaving a gruesome claw mark on Shadow Link's shoulder. He then stabbed the beast with a quick blow through the skull, ending its pitiful life. The fight lasted quite some time, and all the bulbins were slain, Phantom Ganon threw his dagger and it cleanly slew the last regular messenger with a blow through the throat. The Assassin lunged, clawing Shadow Link a second time, but this wound stung like a snake bite. His dagger was dipped in a virus! Cursing under his breath, Shadow Link reconized the virus by its distinct smell, realizing it was the Twilight Dwarf Plague, a very slow acting but almost impossible to cure disease (if you, the reader of this article, are wondering where the name comes from, there is also another plague called the Great Shadow Plague, which is fast acting but somewhat easier to cure). He distracted the Assassin, and then, Phantom Ganon lept up from behind and stabbed his short sword in the miniscule gap between its metal mask and its face. After pressing for about a minute, he pryed the Assassin's mask off, and finished it with a quick stab to the face. After such an exhausting fight, they wearily began to make their way up the narrow pathway into the southeastern field. They heard a low rumbling, and something was growing to block their way. Some kind of giant, white, tubular fungus. Giant hyphae grew into a twisted mass that became an extremely effective roadblock. This, compounded with Shadow Link's infection, was not going to be easy to get by. Fungi could, however, be burned, but where is there some fire. He left Shadow Link next to the roadblock and set off to find a torch. He finally found one after going to the now deserted Bulblin camp. He did not find a torch, but did find two pieces of flint, some dry grass, and a branch. He also decided to take a few pieces of salted meat from their food shed before the bugs got to it. He figured Shadow Link was going to be hungry. He eventually returned to a sleeping Shadow Link, who heard him and just moaned. He was grievously wounded, and could die if he wasn't gotten to a healer. His infected wound had a bluish color to it, while the other was a fully healed scar. Apparently, he could heal unaturally quickly. Finally, he lit a fire and burned the giant mushroom that was blocking their path. Phantom Ganon helped Shadow Link to his feet and they cleared the pass. Another Field, a Missing Bridge, and a Gate Phantom Ganon and Shadow Link cleared the pass in the morning, since they decided to set up camp halfway through. The half-light was not much different, but it was slightly brighter. The field was, however, pretty much enemy free, save for a few Bulblins and four Twilit Deku Babas. Shadow Link pointed out a bombable rock, but neither had any Bombs. Fourtunately, there was a Twilit Bulblin Archer on the other side of the field. It noticed them, and fired a bomb arrow at them. Pondering on how to destroy the rock, he came up with a relatively simple plan. All he did was stand in front of the boulder and wait for him to shoot, then he dodged before it hit him. The stupid beast fell for it, and the rock was destroyed. Inside the pit, Phantom Ganon found a crossbow. With it, he readied a shot and fired it at the archer. He fell off and died from a chest wound. After that problem, Both of them noticed the bridge was missing. The looked at each other, and Shadow Link, despite his grievous injuries, used his skilled magic abilities to remove a tree and place it across the chasm. Then he collapsed. Phantom Ganon murdered another archer with his new crossbow, and then the came upon a bloodstained gate, complete with spikes on top to prevent people from climbing over. It was also locked, but the lock was rusting heavily. He took his dagger and threw it at the gate, missing his target, but weakening the lock further. He then fired his new crossbow and broke the lock due to the sheer foce of the bolt. He helped Shadow Link limp into the village, which had another spring and mostly run-down buildings. One building in particular was occupied, as there was someone checking for something...or maybe someone... The two people stared at each other, and the one in the window ran. He must be quite the coward. He decided to knock on the door, and not a man, but a young child awnsered. He must have not been more than six or seven. He had blond hair, and was dressed in clothes that were more familiar to Ordonians. Were they from there? He went inside, and he did not recieve any particular warm welcome. There were several kids in here, Two girls, one with brow hair and one with lighter hair; while two other boys, one taller with dark hair and one very short with a babyish face. He talked to the lone adult in the room, who could hear him. He asked, "Who are you? Where do you cone from?", and Phantom Ganon shrugged. He didn't introduce himself yet, but he did tell them about Shadow Link's affliction with Twilight Dwarf Plague. He did have a treatment, but it would take over a week. He introduced himself and told them all about his stories. The children were still a little scared, but they began to calm down. They introduced themselves as Colin, Talo, Malo, Beth, and Luda He showed them his swords, and they backed away again. Colin, being cautious like usual, said, "Are you going to hurt us?", and Phantom Ganon told them of his goal. They were rather shocked to various degrees, but they all shared a single thing: Hope for a better future. After about a week, Shadow Link had gotten over his affliction, and was a little jumpy. He said, "So, where to? I've been inside this house for a week and I want to pay back those stupid beasts." Phantom Ganon coldly replied, "Don't rush for battle. Our abjective is not to mercilessly slaughter anything we come in contact with. You need to learn restraint for those emotions, or they will impede you from accomplishing your true goal." He also began, changing the subject, "I have had plenty of time to think about our next objective, but I also wanted to tell you about our final one. While I will inevitably take the Triforce, but there are other items of power, such as the Fused Shadow. I was wondering if you would be alright with me taking the Triforce if you, my ally and friend, can have the whole Fused Shadow. What do yo think about it?" Shadow Link thought about it for a few minutes, and replied, "I understand. It will obviously take the whole triforce to truly take over this land and cement your power. You will have to put down rebellions, raise armies, and command armies. I will gladly follow you into battle, preferably commanding cavalry." Phantom Ganon heard this, and was a little suprised. He said, "You really promise to not fracture the Dark Alliance over the Triforce? Will you not betray me? I'm very impressed with you, Shadow Link, and I also wanted to discuss our next destination." Later that evening, the two of them went to an abandoned house with a large hole in the roof. Phantom Ganon brought a map of Hyrule with him, and Shadow Link was a bit puzzled.